Administrator

Staff Member

Most MacRumors members are helpful people. They come to the rescue of people with problems in the Mac community and save each other time, trouble, and money. Now we're going to take it to the next level and apply that spirit to the real world community. How? By asking everyone to donate blood this month or next month. By donating blood at your local donor center you will help people who need blood to survive or to recover from injury or illness.

The MacRumors Blood Drive was proposed and planned by forum member ShaunPriest. MacRumors wholeheartedly supports the effort. It's easy to be a hero and we ask everyone eligible to join our effort and donate blood.

Why should you donate blood? Because one hour of your time during the next 2 months can change someone's life immeasurably. The need is great and it's an ideal way to "pay it foward" - help others just as others may help you if you ever need blood. Donating to charities is one way to help people in need but no amount of money can replace a unit of blood when it's needed. You'll probably help somebody in your own neighborhood!

How to participate in the MacRumors Blood Drive:

1. Donate blood in May or June!

Pick a day in May or June when you can spare that hour. Then donate blood, platelets, or plasma.
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2. Let us know about it!

Blood donation is a selfless act. The reward is a huge amount of personal satisfaction that's hard to describe and more than outweighs the inconvenience and any minor discomfort.

But... we want to add to your reward by giving you a well-deserved pat on the back.

So... after you donate you'll get an arm bandage. We want to see it! Take a photo of you arm with the bandage on, then post it in this thread. If you donate blood but don't get a photo, tell us about your donation anyway.

Please mention if you're a first-time donor. We hope to have both regular donors and new donors respond to our call to action!
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3. Spread the word!

Convincing someone else to donate blood adds to the supply just as much as donating yourself. Not everyone is eligible to donate blood, but even if you can't donate please support our efforts.

Put this line in your forum signature to show that you support our efforts:

Encourage people you know to join our Blood Drive. If you convince a friend or family member to donate, take a bandage photo of their arm and post it here!

Important: If you want to discuss the controversies about FDA blood donor criteria or the equivalents in other countries, or if you aren't a supporter of blood donations and want to discuss it, post in the Give Blood! thread, where these issues are already being discussed. This thread is for celebrating the participants in the MacRumors Blood Drive.

macrumors 68000

Many people considering donating for the first time may be wondering what happens when you donate blood. Blood donation takes about an hour for a health interview, the setup, the actual donation, and relaxing afterwards. The actual blood draw takes only 5 to 10 minutes and makes a huge difference to the recipient who gets it. Here is an interactive demonstration of the procedure in the UK. Although the procedure in the US (or in other countries) may be slightly different, the underlying procedure is the same.

Donating blood is extremely rewarding. Most people are eligible but only approximately 4% of the population chooses to donate blood - and in some cases this unfortunately is not enough to meet the ongoing demand. Donating blood does save lives! One such example can be watched here where a woman who needed huge amounts of blood (donated by many different donors) discusses her situation and how blood donors saved her life.

If you are interested in donating, the next step would be to find out if you are eligible (US |UK) to give blood. If you are in doubt over your eligibility, please contact your local blood donation service.

Finally, here are the answers to some frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding blood donation and below are some handy links.

thread starterAdministrator

Staff Member

Depending on the state, 16-year-olds may be able to donate blood with parental permission. In some states parental permission is required for 17-year-olds to donate blood. More about that here.

We're providing links to the American Red Cross because they are well-known and provide a lot of information on the web, but remember that you can donate blood at hospitals, "bloodmobiles" at mobile blood drives, and other blood collection centers. We have no preference for one over another, since our campaign is not linked to any other organization or geographic location.

Mexbearpig: We use the Site and Forum Feedback forum for announcements and the Community Discussion forum for community-oriented projects. We left the thread visible at the top of both forums for increased exposure.

macrumors G3

^^^ I got your PM, and I'm definitely in. Donating prevents me from working for three days afterwards, so I'll have to find some time where I know I'll be off, but I'll be back with an arm pic as soon as it happens! This coming Friday seems okay so far.

Administrator emeritus

Our Fort Collins Jaycees group has a public blood drive on June 9th - I'll be donating then, and will encourage others to come in and visit. If you're in the area, drop by Culver's for give a pint/get a pint for a free pint of frozen custard to all donors.

Administrator emeritus

The NBS website is pretty poor in terms of trying to book appointments. The fact that you can't book one and know straight away if you got it is slack. All of my local mobile services come at really crap times before I get home from work. Just found a semi close one on the way home from work so I am trying to book into that one. If not then I'll have to drive to the "local" centre.

I'm sure if I were AB- or O- I would probably have no problems getting an appointment.

I'm going to try and become a component donor next time I go in or at least get tested (iirc). I believe last time I tried some 3 years ago they said my levels were borderline too low and didn't let me.

macrumors 68000

The iron level test has changed in my local donation centre. You used to get a prick to your thumb and they would drop some blood into a solution. If it never dropped fast enough when inside the solution your iron was too low. Now they prick your middle finger and collect blood which goes in a machine. The machine pops out a number. I was told anything over 135 for a male is fine. Mines read 148.

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Oh, and they simply stick a plaster (band-aid) over where the needle was. No bandages!

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